Explore Rochester's antique Italian organ: Where Baroque art and music merge
The Memorial Art Gallery, located on University Avenue in Rochester, is home to North America's only full-size antique Italian organ. The organ was discovered in Florence around 1980 by a German craftsman who restored instruments. It was almost disassembled and sold as pieces of home furnishings. Now owned by the Eastman School of Music, it is full...
“Freedomland U.S.A.: More Definitive History”. Latest Book About New York’s 1960s Theme Park Includes Additional Stories About The Italians
When Michael R. Virgintino’s first book, Freedomland U.S.A.: The Definitive History (Theme Park Press, 2018), was published, he believed that he had documented much of the available story about New York City’s 1960s American history theme park. He knew official park records had been lost for 50 years and that, with a few exceptions, all significant...
Marco Polo (and Dante). Journeys of knowledge – Book presentation
March 08 2024 18:00 (Local time). IIC-NY 686 Park Avenue, NY. Marco Polo (and Dante). Journeys of knowledge. Lecture and Book Presentation by Prof. Giuseppe Mussardo, Theoretical Physics – SISSA Trieste and Prof. Gaspare Polizzi, Accademia delle Arti del Disegno – Firenze. Sky and Earth. Travelling with Dante Alighieri and Marco Polo offers histori...
The Soldier Boy from Buffalo
He seemed invincible. And for a while he was. Born in Buffalo, New York, in 1916, John Basilone was the sixth of 10 children brought into the world by Salvatore Basilone, an Italian immigrant, and his first–generation Italian–American wife, Dora. A typical Catholic boy of his age, the future Marine was educated by nuns, good at boxing, and not inte...
Hidden in Plain Sight: Giuseppe Verdi in the Heart of Manhattan
The latest episode of “Nuova York: Hidden in Plain Sight”, which is the sixth in the series, tells the story of Giuseppe Verdi, the great Italian opera composer, and his statue in Piazza Verdi (Verdi Square) in Manhattan. Stefano Albertini from NYU, recounts Verdi’s story and talks about his legacy – not just the musical one – and the beauty of Pi...
Our Lady of Pompeii: Discovering the Italian Church on Carmine Street
Our Lady of Pompeii Church is located on 25 Carmine St. in New York City since 1928. But originally it was born in 1892 as the chapel of St. Raphael Society for the Protection of Italian Immigrants, in a townhouse that is still standing at 113 Waverly Place. The church location had to be changed several times but the needs of the ever-growing migr...
Celebrating Italian American Culture in NY’s Little Italy with Dr. Joseph V. Scelsa
The Italian American Museum, is set for a grand reopening of a brand new facility this spring in its new home in where else… Little Italy. The Museum is dedicated to telling the history of Italian Americans in New York City, as well as celebrating Italian and Italian American culture in the modern world. Professor Joseph V. Scelsa founded the Ital...
BASILICATË Project launch
Wednesday February 21 2024 5 PM (Local time). Italian Cultural Institute in New York, 686 Park Avenue, New York, NY. BASILICATË: A research and documentation project on Lucanian culture in the world. The title “BASILICATE” indicates the plurality of forms taken on by Lucanian culture in the countries where the emigrants’ communities reside. The pro...
Spotlight: See Pivotal Works by Conceptual Artist Piero Manzoni, Now on View in New York
On view through April 6, 2024, Upper East Side gallery Michael Werner is presenting a solo exhibition of work by seminal Italian artist Piero Manzoni. A pioneering figure in the birth and trajectory of both performance and conceptual art, Manzoni is considered one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. Included in the show are some of...
Center For Italian Art Announces New Exhibition: Nanni Balestrini: Art As Political Action
The Center for Italian Modern Art announces its new exhibition, NANNI BALESTRINI: ART AS POLITICAL ACTION. ONE THOUSAND AND ONE VOICES, curated by Marco Scotini, opening February 22nd. This is the first retrospective exhibition in the US of Nanni Balestrini (1935-2019), an Italian experimental visual artist, poet, and novelist known for his revolut...
Trash to Beauty - Exhibition and docu-film screening
Trash to Beauty: A Case Study of how Peccioli, a small Tuscan hillside town, turned a landfill into an engine of social, economic, ecological, political and cultural change. Curated by Brett Littman. Exhibition opening February 19, 2024 | 6PM. On view from February 19 to May 3, 2024. Italian Cultural Institute, 686 Park Avenue, NY, from 10AM to 4PM...
The Paterno 116th Street. Searching for remnants of a stunning 35-room Upper Manhattan castle from 1905
It takes a lot of audacity (not to mention deep pockets) to build yourself and your family a Manhattan mansion in the style of a Medieval castle. But real estate developer Charles Paterno doesn’t come across as someone who lacked boldness. In the late 19th century, Paterno was an Italian immigrant whose father and brother ran a contracting business...